SHAKESPEARE’S SHIPWRECK IN YOUR CLASSROOM
Native Land Conservancy acknowledged for Rhode Island PBS education doc “Stephano”
Pocahontas knew him. Squanto stayed at his house. Shakespeare wrote about him. And he is coming to schools this fall, with a nod to the efforts of indigenous people.
Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck premiered on Rhode Island PBS early in 2021. Two-time Emmy nominated producer Andrew Giles Buckley and his crew of Hit and Run History are hot on the trail of the Stephen Hopkins, a Virginia-bound castaway who found his way not only onto the decks of the Mayflower a decade later, but immortalized on stage at the drunken Stephano in Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest.
In 2022, the Rhode Island PBS Education Services Department is working with curriculum creators to craft classroom resources based on the historical figures and references in the film. Coupled with film clips, these resources will be uploaded to Rhode Island PBS LearningMedia, accessible to teachers and students locally and nationwide. The resource package is expected to be completed by the fall of 2022, and is made possible in part through a grant in recognition of the Native Land Conservancy.
“The Native Land Conservancy is honored to be supported through the grantor’s generosity and to be a part of telling this powerful story,” said NLC Director Diana Ruiz.
The 90-minute film follows the story of the only Mayflower passenger who had been to North America previously. A decade earlier, Hopkins was aboard a Jamestown-bound ship whose wreck on Bermuda inspired the Bard’s final play.
Shot on location, the intrepid Hit and Run History team retraces Hopkins’ life crisscrossing the Atlantic, intersecting with two of the most influential Native Americans of the time, Pocahontas and Squanto. Wampanoag and Pawmunkey tribe members’ involvement pulls the focus of Stephano onto the key roles of Native peoples in England before the Mayflower departure in 1620.
Buckley, a Hopkins descendant, grew up hearing stories that New Plymouth’s iconoclast tavern keeper may have the model of The Tempest’s drunken and mutinous Stephano. In their Gumshoe Historian style, Hit and Run History seeks out the reality of a man who was everywhere at the founding of America.
During the 2021 screening tour, another Mayflower descendant asked about supporting educational efforts for Stephano.
“Hopkins seemed to have a special relationship with Native Americans, learning valuable skills from them,” Buckley said. “So this donation intends to highlight an indigenous group working to preserve their legacy. NLC is making great strides there.”
The Native-run conservation group’s mission is to rescue, protect, and restore land back to its original state wherever possible.
Made in partnership with Rhode Island PBS and the Cape Media Center, Stephano also aired on WETA in DC, NHPBS, WCTE and PBS SoCal in Los Angeles. Production of Stephano was made possible through grants from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, Cape Air and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
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